The French National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) announced on the 3rd that France has decided to impose a fine of 325 million euros (about 1.601 billion ringgit) on the American company Google.
According to the announcement, the main reason for the hefty fine against Google is that the company's email service displayed advertising content without obtaining valid consent from French users and planted cookies without valid consent when users created Google accounts.
The announcement outlined the French side's investigation into Google's related actions, stating that an investigation was launched after receiving complaints in August 2022 and concluded that both actions violated relevant French laws. Therefore, it was decided to fine Google 325 million euros. The announcement also included screenshots of the pages where Google's email service illegally displayed advertisements.
The announcement stated that one reason for the heavy fine is the large number of French users affected by Google's actions. The cookie violations involved 74 million accounts, and email accounts displaying related advertising content without user consent involved 53 million accounts. The announcement also pointed out that French regulatory authorities have been regulating cookie usage since 2019, and Google showed “negligence” regarding this.
A Google spokesperson responded that the company is reviewing this penalty decision and said that its users have “always been able to control” the advertising content they see in its products.
The French National Commission on Informatics and Liberty had previously imposed large fines on Google for violating data protection and other laws, citing relevant provisions of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation as the basis for the penalties.